Australia's World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting says that burnout caused by an exhausting playing schedules is the team's biggest fear.

Ponting, 28, arrived with his side at Sydney airport on Thursday after leading the world champions to a 4-3 victory in the one-day series against Brian Lara's West Indies.

Earlier, Steve Waugh, 38, had captained Australia to a 3-1 win in the Test series in the two-month Caribbean tour.

"I think that (burnout) is the fear of everyone at the moment," Ponting said.

"All the players want to play as much cricket for Australia as they can, but at the same time don't want to be worn out, fatigued and have their careers cut a little bit shorter than they might have been."

"That's the biggest fear we've got in the team and we've mentioned that to various people and hopefully people start listening to us pretty soon."

Australia's cricketers, who have been playing virtually non-stop since November last year, will have a short break at home before hosting a two-Test series against Bangladesh in July.

The Australian Cricket Board reacted to pressure from players last week by cancelling the team's involvement in a one-day tournament in Morocco scheduled for August and September.

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 9 Sub: burnout I would like to see all of you who have posted messages saying that Ponting is making excuses to play non stop for 7 to ... Posted by Swati Sub: You have lot of players to do the job So What???You have lot of players to do the job for the country."Cricket is no more Gentleman's game" and that is proved by Autralians by ... Posted by Venu Madhav Thalla Sub: ponting is right i think ponting is absolutely right.indian players also dont get sufficient breaks between their schedules.its high time for the cricket officials to consider this matter ... Posted by kedar Sub: whiners thats professionalism.... indeed. whining in professional style... only when you lose... when you are on a victory run.. no one bothers. why didn't the aussies ... Posted by chela Sub: mr lewis mr lewis.... thatis not true.ponting is a true sport. Posted by jananisridharans